“A couple times where it’s like, ‘Well, I don’t know. Maybe it’s not your night,’ ” Miami coach Manny Diaz said, “And you can kind of let go of the rope, and I thought our guys looked those situations in the eye, fought through them and ultimately gave ourselves a chance to win the game.

“That’s what a big-time program should do. You don’t pat yourself on the back for not quitting, but it is something. And that was a big point of our offseason.”

Now, going into an idle week while the rest of college football plays its season openers, the Hurricanes (0-1) will start to regroup with a road trip to Chapel Hill to open ACC play against North Carolina on the other side of the bye.

“Every day we step on the field, every day we step on Greentree [Practice Fields], it’s win or go home,” running back DeeJay Dallas said. “And [Saturday night], we didn’t do that. So [Sunday] we’re going to come back, learn from this film and be better.”

Diaz viewed the 10 sacks as a problem for the entire offense, and not just the line.

“I think it’s always unfair to say, ‘Well, it’s just on this position or that position,’ ” Diaz said. “Protecting the quarterback is an 11-man job on offense. … And part of it’s just getting the ball out, too.”

For his part, quarterback Jarren Williams accepted some of that blame.

“I felt like a couple times I got pressured and I became a runner instead of remaining a passer, keeping my eyes down the field, so that's definitely something that I'm going to learn from,” Williams said. “When the rush is coming at you and you're live, it's a little different, but it's a great learning experience and I feel like we're only going to get better."

Senior middle linebacker Shaq Quarterman wants the team to commit fewer penalties than the 14 for 125 yards on Saturday, but also to tackle better after the Hurricanes missed several, especially early, when Kadarius Toney scored UF’s first-quarter touchdown.

“First game of the season. It’s the first time you get to tackle somebody else. It’s all about who makes the least amount of mistakes, and that includes tackling too,” Quarterman said. “I think we swarmed pretty well.”

“The key is we just can't stop,” Diaz said. “If anything, now we've got to keep going and be more motivated to improve because we could say, ‘Well, we played pretty good,’ and then all of a sudden we'll relax and we'll end up in this exact same position in two weeks’ time.

“I think we know that our guys found out that we can play. We can go toe to toe with a top-10 opponent, but now that should kind of hurt us a little bit to really get in there and study the game and find a way to get better.”